Stay informed on news and updates involving Oregon research universities

Gadusol Laboratories is developing a nontoxic sunscreen using gadusol, a substance that fish and other marine life use to avoid sunburn. The startup plans to scale up a production system this year, going from lab- to pilot-scale. To see the full article, click here.

Launching pad: Expansion boosts OSU incubator for high-tech startupsJuly 1, 2018 — Corvallis Gazette-TimesThe Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Institute is primarily a research facility, but for the moment the people in lab coats may be outnumbered by the people in hard hats and safety vests. A major expansion is underway at ATAMI, an academic-industrial research center and business incubator run by Oregon State University and housed in an 80,000-square-foot building on the Corvallis campus of HP Inc. For a list of ATAMI-related OSU technologies, click here.

Aronora's new blood clot treatment receives FDA Fast Track designationSept. 26, 2018 — PR NewswireAronora, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company created at OHSU, developing first-in-class treatments for life-threatening diseases, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for proCase (E-WE thrombin, AB002), an enzyme that is intended to reverse blood clot formation without increa sing the risk of bleeding. Despite currently approved treatments, over one million people still die from blood clots every your in the U.S. To see the full article, click here.

Three researchers receive 2018 Biomedical Innovation Program drug discovery awardsAugust 15, 2018 — OHSU Research NewsThree drug discovery projects have been named recipients of the 2018 Biomedical Innovation Program awards. The awards provide funds, project management, and mentorship to facilitate the development of innovative technologies at OHSU and accelerate their translation to the marketplace. To see the full list of winners and their abstracts, click here.

Murdock Trust announces record year of givingJuly 5, 2018 — East OregonianThe M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust releases its 2017 annual report on grant awards; the OHSU Foundation received $475K for a magnetic resonance scanner and $59K for OmnEcoil, an OHSU startup developing a prostatic MR imaging and biopsy device. To see the full article, click here.

Innovators meet for the 2017 OHSU Commercialization ConferenceSept. 22, 2017 — OHSU Research NewsMore than 250 scientists and entrepreneurs gathered last week at the OHSU Commercialization Conference, now in its fifth year. The takeaways? Disruptive innovation in science follows years of research that is carefully framed to address specific problems; business engagement can help move scientific discoveries to the patient; and OHSU’s structure that locates research outside the five schools creates special opportunities for transdisciplinary research, training, and education. To see the full article, click here.

What you need to know about the Oregon-born CRISPR gene-editing breakthroughAug. 2, 2017 — Portland Business JournalNews blasted around the world today that OHSU scientists successfully corrected mutated genes in human embryos for the first time. The breakthrough, published in the journal Nature, could have major implications for halting inherited diseases before they are passed down through the generations. But the method is also controversial, raising alarms about the potential for "designer babies." To see the full article, click here.

OHSU scientists successfully repair genetic mutation in human embryosAug. 2, 2017 — Portland Business JournalOHSU scientists confirmed a report leaked last week that they used a gene-editing technique to correct a mutation in a human embryo and prevent it from being passed to future generations. Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR, they targeted a mutation in nuclear DNA that causes a common genetic heart disease that can lead to sudden cardiac death and heart failure. To see the full article, click here.

At OHSU, healthcare tech is a priorityJune 8, 2017 — InnovosourceOregon Health & Science University’s Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute Biomedical Innovation Program (BIP) takes an integrated approach to identifying, supporting, and accelerating the commercialization of new healthcare technologies. The BIP facilitates commercialization through direct project management, inventor education, and external feedback/advisory support. In addition they offer a suite of funding options to nurture promising translational research and proof of concept through the capital ‘valley of death”. To see the full article, click here.

OHSU's latest tech spinout? A dome-shaped data centerMay 31, 2017 — Portland Business JournalOregon Health and Science University is known for spawning healthcare and biotech startups, but one of its latest spinouts is in a seemingly surprising field: data center design. A pair of Portland entrepreneurs have licensed technology from OHSU developed by Perry Gliessman, its former director of technology who created a new kind of data center that significantly decreases the amount of energy it consumes. Their startup, called Server Dome, hopes to sell more data centers based off the successful design of OHSU's "Data Dome," a geodesic dome-shaped data center hat has been operating for three years at the university's West Campus in Hillsboro. To see the full article, click here.

Researchers moving blood testing from the clinic to the homeApril 11, 2017 — OHSU Research NewsThe device, called TouchSpot, uses dried blood spot sampling, a technique in which a small amount of blood from the finger or heel is drawn and then dried before analysis. In order to serve as an alternative to venipuncture, a precise amount of blood must be delivered to filter paper. Collecting a precise quantity of blood and preventing damage to the filter paper are primary challenges to developing a dried blood spot sampling device that can stand in for intravenously collected samples. To see the full article, click here.

OHSU Startup Spotlight: Gobiquity Mobile Health, Inc. January 25, 2016 — Oregon Health & Science UniversityOf the 25 million children between the ages of six months and six years old, more than 15 percent show risk factors for amblyopia, the leading cause of visual impairment in children. In addition, only 20 percent of children receive proper vision screenings. Gobiquity Mobile Health, Inc., an OHSU startup company founded in 2010, specializes in prescribed mobile health diagnostics. Gobiquity is on a mission to end amblyopia through early screening and diagnosis. Its flagship technology, GoCheck Kids, is a smartphone application that provides specialty testing in primary care, turning a standard smartphone into an optical photo screening device. Read more...

OHSU Innovator Spotlight: Yali Jia, Ph.D.October 19, 2015 — Oregon Health & Science UniversityYali Jia, Ph.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology at OHSU's School of Medicine, has been making great strides to create breakthrough optical imaging technologies that may transform the way clinicians diagnose and care for patients. As a study investigator in Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers (COOL) lab of Casey Eye Institute, Jia has spent the last several years helping develop the split-spectrum amplitude-decorrelation angiography (SSADA) algorithm, which is most efficient within current available optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography methods, and allows physicians to map out the ocular circulation down to capillary level. Read more...

Inspiration, innovative technology helping Valliscor succeedOctober 1, 2015 — Oregon State UniversityThe idea seemed solid and the underlying research was sound. An OSU professor of chemistry and a private industrial chemist envisioned a company that could produce industrial chemicals with exceptional purity, using new technology they had created. In theory, it looked like it would work. But it’s a long way from a good idea and promising technology to a functional company – and into that breach stepped the OSU Research Office and later the OSU Advantage Accelerator. Valliscor was born. “I credit Dan Whitaker for being the catalyst for getting Valliscor started,” said Rich Carter, professor and chair of the OSU Department of Chemistry. Whitaker continues to help the Office for Commercialization and Corporate Development mentor and develop new startups. “He gave a talk at a 2011 faculty meeting about how OSU can help get startups off the ground. I remember leaving that meeting thinking – ‘Wow, I think we could actually make this work!’” Read more...

OHSU Industry Spotlight: Welch Allyn Engineering RoundsSeptember 8, 2015 — Oregon Health & Science UniversityThe Welch Allyn-OHSU engineering rounds is a new platform at OHSU that allows medical equipment design engineers the chance to engage with doctors and patients. The long-term goal of this platform is to translate medical needs into focused innovations and eventually products. This platform was designed to allow both parties to utilize their respective expertise. OHSU offers the clinical expertise necessary to identify patient care problems and provide feedback on the practical applications of new innovations, while Welch Allyn offers the engineering expertise necessary to create physical solutions to the identified problems. Read more...

Stone Stable, Inc.July 1, 2015 — Portland State UniversityStoneStable, Inc., a Portland-based startup company, plans to use technology developed by PSU biology professor and virologist Ken Stedman to address the issue of vaccine wastage. According to a World Health Organization report, over fifty percent of all vaccines are wasted, mainly due to a lack of refrigeration. As biological products, vaccines must be transported at controlled temperatures. If at any time the “cold chain” between production and the final destination is broken, the vaccine quickly becomes ineffective. Yet in many parts of the world, particularly in developing and underdeveloped countries, keeping vaccines cold during transport is impractical, if not impossible. StoneStable believes the solution is to remove refrigeration from the equation. Read more...

OHSU Innovator Spotlight: Perry GliessmanMay 20, 2015 — Oregon Health & Science UniversityPerry is a truly futuristic thinker. He realized in 2009 that the existing OHSU data center was inefficient and the capacity was insufficient to meet OHSU's burgeoning computing and storage needs. Anticipating "big data" generated by the university, Perry designed the advanced Data Dome that can efficiently accommodate a diverse range of equipment with associated power requirements to meet the current and future needs of OHSU's healthcare, research, academic missions. The unique design of the new data center achieves some of the best efficiencies in the industry while using existing OHSU computing hardware in combination with new state-of-the-art equipment, contrary to the idea that many energy efficient data centers require all legacy hardware to be replaced with identical custom designed central processing units (CPUs). Read more...

New Book from University of Oregon details 'art' and 'craft' of grant writing April 20, 2015 — University of OregonSuccessful grant writing is a process that can be learned, improved upon, and practiced successfully by just about anyone, argue the authors of Foundations of Grant Writing, a new book published by the University of Oregon. Designed for both potential and seasoned grant writers, the book grew out of a successful grant-writing module offered at the UO. It is now available for purchase on Amazon. Read more...

OHSU Startup Spotlight: Najit Technologies, Inc.December 19, 2014 — Oregon Health & Science UniversityNajit Technologies, Inc., is a clinical stage startup company based on a platform vaccine technology developed at OHSU's West Campus. Najit's platform uses a novel, patented approach to inactivate viruses while still maintaining their key immunogenic structures. This technology is unique in comparison to other vaccine technologies because the inactivation method employed uses oxidation instead of alkylation or cross-linking by formaldahyde. Read more...

Innovate Collaborate Oregon (ICOregon)

Innovate, Collaborate, Oregon (ICOregon) promotes interaction between industry and Oregon research universities. Oregon Universities work with entrepreneurs and industry to advance discoveries through collaborative research and licensing. They ensure that ideas generated by faculty and staff are translated into products and services that benefit the public.